Bob Geldof announced Gaza Aid 2025

[mids2019]

Wait no......Bob is simply reminiscing about Band Aid 40 years ago. Has Bob given up his passionate zeal or as is more highly likely like most high profile musicians decided the Gaza conflict is one to stay well away from and they don't want to be seen the dupes of Hamas propaganda.

Not many big names on TV and the stage are wading into this for good reason and those that do are certainly the naive lovely types.

Nice choice actually.

Those Kneecap boys can help out as well.

Whereas American universities receive several hundred million dollars from countries like Qatar, which could explain some of their reluctance to say that calling for the death of Jews on campus violates conduct codes. @quantumbutterfly

Exactly, powerful and influential lobby groups are everywhere. China and UK universities is another interesting one. We have to accept they exist and that they, to a greater or lesser extent, have influence.

But destabilising and distracting to American society. Similar strategy to cold war union infiltration. It's arguable which is more effective.

I don't disagree, it really depends who you consider malign Vs benign. I don't think China has our best interests at heart but I have some admiration for their history and culture, wouldn't survive well living there though. I feel the same about much of the middle east, it's a different world, which brings me back to the naivety of marching through Egypt as if it's central London.

The US and the UK could’ve solved the Ethiopian famine in 1984.

The US could alleviate the hunger in Gaza within the next week.

If Live Aid taught us anything, it’s that the solutions are about political will rather than money or logistics.

Apart from some minor African political window-dressing in order to keep the potential transfer of money alive, Robert ('Bob') Geldof's so-called 'fund raiser' Live Aid accomplished nothing but 1) lining the pockets of corrupt African politicians to the tune of millions of pounds; 2) wasting plastic and paper resources with the issue of a risible, perfunctory song as a 7" vinyl record.

I would argue that it's not that arguable :) One may result in what you describe, as be as effective as cold war union infiltration (the long term impact of which is arguable at best.

The other has resulted in decades of the US arming Israel and refusing to support multiple UN resolutions, and is currently resulting in the continued deaths of tens of thousands of innocent human beings because it serves the interest of the Israeli government.

Ethiopia did not have Islamic extremists - big difference. I was less aware back then of the forced displacement from the refugee camp in Ethiopia.

I think that situation may be more comparable to Yemen or Sudan.

Again, the presence of Islamic extremists is a large part of the equation.

Wrt influence in universities, indoctrination via 'education' is recognised as a powerful tool in autocracies. It's a long game but effective.

What do you think the long game is and how is it proceeding?

I don't know what AIPAC's got to do with the Israel lobby in the UK. Apart from obviously being a different country and therefore obviously irrelevant both the rules around lobbying and election funding are very very different here. Do tell us who in the UK is terrifyimg Starmer and by what mechanism.

That’s true. People don’t starve to death because there is no food available, it’s just in the wrong place.
If you can walk into a restaurant in Los Angeles and buy a bottle of French mineral water, there’s no supply chain issues moving water either.
It’s political will.

Although, how does another country, just decide to wade in and tell the Ethiopian government to change how they're doing things.

It struck me looking at the documentary that the government couldnt give a shit, didnt want outside observations or intervention?

I was just answering your question not making the original statement about Starmer being terrified of the UK pro Israel lobby. The US pro Israel lobby influences US foreign policy which then does have an effect on all of their strategic allies. I agree it doesn't work that way in the UK in terms of direct political lobbying.

Though I do think Starmer tries extra hard to not appear anti Semitic to distance himself from Corbyn's labour. And there has been a concerted effort by the Israeli government to sell the idea that criticism of Israeli government actions equates with being anti Israel, therefore anti semitic, and there are many willing to propagate this view in the UK. He does have to tread carefully though because eventually the facts of what is happening to people start speaking too loudly to ignore.

Give me strength.

Why education of course, time will tell what's been learned. In any subject courses are tailored to the expertise and funding of the lecturers, depends where the funding goes. I'm all for the advance of knowledge for the benefit of humanity.🙂

Thank you for answering.

So it seems we agree that most of Gaza has been flattened, that thousands of children have been killed and aid has been stopped. I appreciate you haven’t dismissed this as Hamas propaganda.

We also agree that what has happened in Gaza has caused moral outrage- not surprisingly.

What we disagree on is whether Israel had to do what it has done and what it continues to do in Gaza. There are serious concerns about crimes against humanity having been committed by Israel, as were committed by Hamas on 7/10.

Here are two seasoned political figures discussing it.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SMXiQJHjwJZ4HFzTmkVwo?si=0f1N81A8RsOwZIrIUuJISQ&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A1Ysx8g1Iw42gESAtegrFaH

I am feel for supporters of Israel who cannot countenance any criticism of the way that the IDF has conducted itself in Gaza. But you can’t blame that solely on Hamas.

If it’s callous to mention the number of lives lost then why are pro Palestinian people on here always mentioning that the IDF have killed many more Gaza militants and civilians now than were killed by Hamas on October 7th?

Yes I would feel for them too, if they existed. But they don't, not on MN anyway. And No most of gaza has not been 'flattened'. Please look it up and learn the difference between 'damaged' and 'destroyed'.

It does not feel that some posters can countenance criticism of Israel - at least that’s what it seems to me. I don’t think there would be such disagreement otherwise on this board.

As to how much of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged - what are you basing your information on?

I have read over 90% of buildings have been destroyed or damaged on analysis of satellite images, and have seen this reflected in images of Google Maps. Have you seen those images?

I don't think there is evidence that people can't 'countenance' criticism of the IDF. Many of us have been perfectly willing to accept that they will have mistakes, made strategic decisions we might not agree with, even committed crimes. If you can find me an army in wartime that hasn't I would be interested to know. It seems that if we don't proactively criticise them its assumed we think they are beyond criticism. I don't recall ever being called to account on the behaviour of any other army.

You have said yourself that a huge number of biildings in gaza have been destroyed OR DAMAGED. If you have a couple of broken windows in your house would you consider it 'flattened'? I would think not. You would consider your house damaged, not destroyed.

I can only reflect what it’s like to post on this board. It’s hard to get some to acknowledge valid criticisms of Israel.

The images of Gaza on Google Maps do show vast areas of Gaza have been flattened. You’ve not said what your views on this objective evidence is.

I acknowledge that saying destroyed or DAMAGED may have been more appropriate. However, given that a lot of damaged buildings will also inhabitable - I am not sure it makes any real difference to Palestinians.

Does it make it less morally outrageous that only damaged / destroyed 90% buildings versus flattened?

Totally agree! With that and the constant harassment of ‘white saviour’ in the years following, when the whole thing stemmed from his abject horror of what he saw on the news, I think it’s fair that a 73 year old doesn’t spearhead this one.

Yes its morally outrageous that Hamas started a war without any adequate protection for their population. Its morally outrageous that they spent millions of siphoned off aid money, taxing tbeir population and money from criminal activities to built a network of tunnels under civilian buildings and infrastructure . Obvioisly buildings above will collapse when Israeli forces destroy the tunnels underneath. Its morally outrageous that they fight a guerilla war from civilian buildings. I don't really understand the last question. You still seem to be strughling with the diffetence between damage and destruction? Yes there are laws about attacking civilian buildings because its onviously immoral to target civilian buildings, but they cease to be civilian if used for military purposes.

@SharonEllis
Your post is - to me - an example of how people cannot countenance criticism of Israel. There have been two parties in this conflict and both are to blame to what has happened to innocent Palestinians.

If a rapist/ killer was in a house - would you agree with bombing the property, killing not only their family but other innocent people in the building?

I don’t understand why Israel has decided multiple people have to die to target one Hamas soldier, especially when we know Israel is able to assassinate people in a very targeted way. I’m not talking about the tunnels here.